September 12, 2020 Iowa City, Iowa Tornado
Part of the September 12, 2020 Storm Complex The September 12, 2020 Iowa City EF4 Tornado was a violent, catostrophic, deadly tornado that struck the city of Iowa City ,Iowa in the early evening hours of September 12, 2020. Tornado The tornado touched down around 6:30 PM a mile southeast of the village of Cosgrove. The twister than begun to rapidly intensify, as it moved northeast. Soon, it would begin to wedge out, as it begun to hit rural farms, including the Weber ranch, where EF3 damage would begin to occur. The tornado would strike teh north end of the Hunters Run Park Subdivision, continuing to do EF3 damage to the homes in the subdivision. The tornado would then cross Highway 27, into Residential Iowa City. Multiple homes would suffer intense high end EF3 damage in this area. At West High School, surveyors would find evidence of EF4 damage, as must of the high school was entirely wiped off its foundation. At this point, the NWS Office in Davenport would issue a Tornado Emergency for Iowa City. On the University of Iowa campus, the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones would be playing in their rivalry football game. Kinnick Stadium, full of nearly 70,000 fans, would be quickly evacuated as the giant tornado (now over a mile wide) would creep closer and closer. The tornado would then enter the Horn neighborhood, where several homes would be entirely wiped off ther foundations. Here, NWS surveyors would find high EF4 damage, estimating the winds to be near 195 MPH. On the side of the tornado, the Iowa sports practice complex would be struck, with several of the universities practice complexes, as well as the University of Iowa Sports hall of fame and the University of Iowa Health Care and Sports Medicine complex would all be severely damaged. At this point, the tornado would enter the University of Iowa Campus, destroying a majority of their sports complexes. Kinnick Stadium, witch had nearly 70,000 people in it, would be struck head on, with the grand stands collapsing, and a majority of the stadium being severely damaged. At Kinnick, 15 people would be killed, 12 being civilians, 2 being security employees, and 1 being a Graduate Assistant on the Iowa State Cyclones Football team. The Stew And Lenore Football complex would be destroyed, and the Carver Hawkeye Basketball Arena would see its entire roof collapse, and its walls caving in on themselves. Dozens of Student Housing Units in the area would be struck as well, with many of them being destroyed. The University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics System would also be hit, with the entire on campus complex seeing severe damage. Luckily, all patients and employees would survive, with very little injuries reported. The tornado would then cross the Iowa River before hitting the main education portion of campus. Their, a night-guard at the Stanley Museum of Art would be killed when the tornado would hit. The tornado would then continue its path of destruction into downtown Iowa City, where more high end EF4 damage. e would be reported. The tornado would continue east north east, into the residential portions of Eastern Iowa City. In this area, Iowa City Highschool would be struck. NWS surveyors would at first rate this damage as low end EF5 damage, but would later lower their rating to an EF4, with winds of 199 MPH, the closest you can get to an EF5 without garnering the actual rating. The tornado would then move into the Lemme neighborhood, where high end EF4 damage would continue to occur. The tornado however would then quickly exit the area, where it would then begin to quickly weaken. The tornado would cross I-80, and lift over farmland a few miles away. Aftermath The tornado would become the costliest twister in Iowa history, and one of the worst in state history. The entire University of Iowa campus would need to be repaired or rebuilt. Help from across the nation would be sent to help recovery in the city, and multiple news agencies would base their coverage of the outbreak in the city. (CNN-Iowa City; Fox-Davenport; CBS-Iowa City; ABC-Iowa City; NBC-Davenport; TWC-Iowa City; MSNBC-Davenport) The tornado has since gone down in history as one of the most obviously underated tornadoes in history, with damage showing obvious EF5 damage, yet the NWS office in Davenport rated it as an EF4. Category:Tornadoes Category:Violent Tornadoes Category:Costly Tornadoes Category:Iowa Tornadoes Category:Deadly Tornadoes Category:NewSomberMan Category:F4/EF4 Tornadoes